Den Sutejo

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Den Sutejo (1633-1698)

田捨女 でんすてじょ / Suteme
寛永十一 / 元禄十一(1634-1698)　
寛永11年（1634年） - 元禄11年8月10日（1698年9月13日

号：嶺南・妙融尼・Teikan Ni 貞閑尼

Kaibara Sutejo 栢原捨女 かいばらすてじょ

Born in the province of Tanba as daughter of the samurai Den Rishige 田季繁.
She married and had five sons and one daughter. When she was 42, her husband died. Very soon after, she became a nun.


© PHOTO minamikun

She became a student of Bankei Eitaku, 盤珪永琢, a Zen master (1622 - 1693). She built her temple Futai An 不徹庵 beside his temple Ryuumon-Ji 龍門寺, where she lived with about 30 other ladies. Her grave is at the temple Ryuumon-Ji.


. Bankei Yōtaku 盤珪永琢 Bankei Yotaku .
Bankei Eitaku (1622-1693) and temple 寶雲山玉龍寺 Gyokuryu-Ji




Japanische Haiku-Dichterinnen


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HAIKU


© PHOTO ribon2ss.exblog.jp

nure iro ya ame no shita teru hime tsutsuji

adorned with raindrops
from the shower, a sparkling
princess azelia

Tr. Makoto Ueda


colored by wetness -
a princess azalea sparkling
under the rain
Tr. Gabi Greve
(trying for a version without a comma in line 2)

Azalea (tsutsuji)

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White Layered Robe, shiragasane

natsu matade baika no yuki ya shiragasane

too impatient to wait
for summer, plum blossoms
in a white suit of snow

Tr. Makoto Ueda


not waiting for summer
the plum blossoms in snow -
white layered robes
(Tr. Gabi Greve)



© Photo 風俗博物館


shiragasane 白襲 :
a white robe worn as underwear to absorb the sweat. It was another layer (kasane) of the robes worn by the nobility and by Buddhist priests and nuns in summer, starting from April 8 (old lunar calendar). This kind of layered robe is already mentioned in the Tale of Genji.

Courtiers underwear, shitagasane下襲（したがさね）was preferred in the colors white and indigo (futa ai 二藍) in summer, whereas in winter they used "azalea red" (tsutsuji 躑躅), cherry pink (sakura 桜), dark red (su ou 蘇芳) and other colored silken robes.
shirokasane, shirakasane, sirokasane


© PHOTO Kobe Kikusui Wagashi

Here we have a Japanese sweet with the name "Shiragasane". It refers to the name of the white robe used in Noh costumes.


white layered robe, shiragasane 白重, 白襲
..... white robe, shira-e, shira e 白衣（しらえ）
kigo for early summer

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let us start picking --
don't drop herbs from your basket
or anything else!

The Japanese "young herbs" (wakana) can also mean "my name" (waga na). This is an allusion to an 8th century poem where the poet is asking a maid who is picking herbs for her name.

Tr. Makoto Ueda


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雪の朝二の字二の字の下駄の跡
yuki no asa ni no ji ni no ji no geta no ato

snowy morning -
tracks of wooden sandals
two lines, two lines again
Tr. Gabi Greve


As you can see, these sandals have two wooden blocks to walk on. They leave a print that looks like the Chinese character for TWO 二. This is rather difficult to translate literally.


© PHOTO Getaya

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Related words

***** Tagami Kikusha (1753-1826)


***** Sweets from Japan (wagashi)

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